Rail clamp



Vl l) Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

UNITED STATES THOMAS J. KOHUIH AND JOSEPH J.

PLOUCH, OF' GIPSY, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAIL CLAMP.

Application led July 23,

To @ZZ 07mm t 11mg/ conce/Mi Be it known that we, THOMAS J. KoHUir-r and losnrfr-r J. PLoUcrr, citizens of the United States of America, and residents of Gipsy, Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rail Clamps, which invention is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention relates to rail fastening devices, and more particularly to suoli devices employed in connection with metallic railway ties. Such ties are commonly eniployed in a variety of places where light rails are used such, for example, on trani railways in mines. In such railways. rails of different weights and dimensions are employed suoli, for example, as twelve and sixteen pound rails, and it 'is frequently de sirable to shift from one weight of rail to another. The present invention is designed to afford an eliicient means for clamping the rail to the metallic tie and for quickly releasing the same when desired and substituting a rail of different weight, the whole being performed by unskilled labor and with a minimum consumption of time.

One form which the invention may assume is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan View of the invention, showing rails clamped to the tie;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2 2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

In said drawings, l indicates a metallic railway tie of any ordinary or suitable construction and, as here shown, consists of a bar of wrought-iron with downwardly turned flanges 2, 2. Extending transversely across said tie is a bar 3 of wrought-iron, one edge portion 4 of which is liXedly secured to the tie by rivets or bolts 5, 5, the otheredge portion 6 of saidtransversebar being bent or inclined upwardly sufficiently to permit the flange 7 of the rail 8 to pass thereunder and, when forced well over as shown in Fig. 2, is firmly engaged by the under surface of the part 6 of said transverse bar. n the opposite side of the rail from the bar 3 is a second bar 9, preferably corresponding in every particular to the bar 3, and bolts 10, 10 extend through the outer edge portion l1 of said bar and through two longitudinally extending parallel slots 12, l2 formed in the tie l, a Washer 1924. Serial No. 727,751.

1?) Fig. 2) being preferably interposed betie l. but loose enough to permit the same to' be 'adjusted longitudinally along the slots 12, 12. The inner edge portion of the bar 9. that is the portion adjacent the rail, is bent so as to incline slightly upward corresponding to the upwardly inclined portion' of the bar 3.

Pivoted to the tie 1 and adjacent to the bar 9 is a third bar 16 turning freely on the pivot 1T which may be a rivet or bolt if desired. here shown as a rivet. The ends of this bar 16 are cani-shaped, the cani on the end 16 being nearer' the pivot than the cani on the end 16, and the location of the pivot lbeing such that, when either ofthe cani ends 16 or 16 is turned around in the direction of the slid'able bar 9, they engage the outer edge portion 11 thereof and force the said bar 9 toward the flange 7 of the rail 8. The lengths of the longitudinally extending slots 12, 12 are suoli as to enable the bar 9, when the cam bar 16 is turned transversely of the rail 1, to be drawn a suflicient distance from the clamping bar 3 to admit the flange of the heaviest rail designed to be employed. The rail being inserted with the flange 7 under the upwardly inclined edge portion 6 of the transverse bar 3, the transverse clamping bar 9 is shoved toward the rail, the bolts traveling in the slots 12, 12, and the cam bar 9 is turned so that one of its cani-shaped ends engages the outer edge portion of the slidable transverse bar 9 'and forces it toward the rail until the under surface of the upwardly inclined portion 15 of said slidable bar snugly engages the flange 7 of the rail. If it is desired to substitute a rail of different weight, it is only necessary to turn the cam bar 16 on its pivot, slide the transverse bar 9 away from the rail when the latter can be readily lifted out and another rail substituted. The lengths of the slots 12 not only permit the transverse bar 9 to slide far enough away to permit the insertion of the broadest flanged rail to be employed, but also permit the said transverse slidable bar 9 to be slid toward the rail a sufficient distance to snugly engage the smaller size of rail designed to be employed.

In Order to insure the @am @ad .0f the cam member 16 remaining in tight engagement with the slidable transversebar 9, suitable locking means may, if desired, be employed. Such locking` means is here shown in the form of a pin 18 extending through a hole 19 in the cam bar 16 and into a hole 2O in the tie 1. 'Vhile such locking pin may, in some cases, be desirable, it may of course be omitted.

It will be observed that the entire structure is one that may be 'cheaply manufactured and assembled, and when assembled may be quickly and etliciently operated. The transversely extending clamp bars 3 and 9 can be made by simply cutting olif a piece of wrought-iron bar and bending up the edge portion thereof and drilling holes therethrough, and the cam bar 16 may be cheaply and quickly made out of an ordinary wrought-iron plate. The whole device is such that one rail may be taken out and another substituted in a tew minutes and by unskilled labor, and yet guarantees that the rails be lirmly clamped to the tie without regard to whether the rails employed be ot the larger or smaller size.

What is claimed is 1. The combination of a metallic railway tie, and a rail jaw lixedly secured thereto, with an adjustable rail jaw slidably secured to said tie opposite said fixed jaw and a plurality of cams pivoteol to said tie in position to engage said slidable jaw at different distances from said fixed jaw, whereby rails of differing dimensions may be readily secured to said tie.

2. The combination of a metallic railway tie and a rail jaw iixedly secured thereto, with a slidable jaw secured to said tie opposite said fixed jaw, and a bar pivoted to said tie and having cam-shaped ends at unequal distances from the pivot thereof` whereby said slidable jaw may be adjusted into clamping engagement with rails of diiferent sizes. f

The combination of a metallic railway tie, a bar oi metal extending across said tie and having one edge portion tixedly bolted to the tie and its other edge portion inclined upward from the tie, whereby said bar 'forms a fixed rail jaw, a second bar extending across said tie opposite said firstl bar and having bolts extending through one edge portion thereof and through longitudinally extending parallel slots in said tie while its opposite edge portion is inclined upward from the tie, and a bar of metal having camshaped ends pivoted to said tie in position tor said ends to enga-ge said second transverse bar and with its pivot nearer to one end of the bar than to the other.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification,

THOMAS J. KOHUTH. JOSEPH J. PLoUoH. 

